Lithocholic acid promotes rosacea-like skin inflammation via G protein-coupled bile acid receptor 1.

BACKGROUND

Rosacea is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder with unclear etiology. Evidence showed that immunoinflammatory dysregulation was involved in the pathogenesis. Bile acids, as important participants of hepatoenteric circulation, play a vital role in immunoinflammatory regulation through peripheral blood circulation. However, whether it has effects on rosacea remains unknown.

METHODS

Here, we performed a bile acid analysis on the serum samples of rosacea patients and healthy controls. Then we gavage G protein-coupled bile acid receptor 1 (TGR5) knockout mice with lithocholic acid (LCA) based on a LL37-induced rosacea-like model. We further overexpress TGR5 in HaCaT keratinocytes to figure out the downstream pathway.

RESULTS

We found varied bile acid profile in the peripheral blood circulation of patients, especially the most significant increase in LCA. LCA promoted skin inflammation in LL37-induced rosacea-like mouse model. Our in vivo and in vitro results further demonstrated that LCA induced inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, thus exacerbated rosacea-like skin inflammation, via TGR5 in keratinocytes and LL37-induced rosacea-like mouse model.

CONCLUSIONS

Therefore, we conclude that LCA promotes skin inflammation of rosacea via TGR5, and LCA-TGR5 axis may be a novel therapeutic target for rosacea.